Mothers and Other Strangers
by ALIaS6829
Summary: Holly Marie Miceli is just another girl trying to make it into the WWE and wishes to just make it by. However, when your mother is one of the most controversial Women's Champions of all time, that's not exactly going to be easy.
1. The MotherDaughter Bonding Experience

A/N: I got the idea for this story after coming across an article on about Alundra Blayze and what she was up to now-a-days. She was a favorite of mine as a child and I thought it would be nice to kind of pay tribute to her, even if this story isn't always showing her in the best of lights. Now, I know dates for certain things might not add up, on top of the fact that I'm not even sure if she has children, but that's neither here, nor there. Please enjoy and review.

As I usually say, I own nothing but a laptop (a pretty kickass one I just got! Notch!) and limited free time. My characters are my own and not yours. HA! (sorry, a bit tired)

There is nothing quite like tossing your cookies right before your first professional match. Not only can you not get the taste out of your mouth, but your breath is kicking and you hope to God no one notices. Of course, as she always does, my mother notices. Now that she is back in my life, she noticed everything.

"Seriously, Holly Marie…was that necessary?"

She huffed and mumbled to herself something along the lines of her not doing this before her first match, all the while fidgeting with my shoulder-length black hair. Finally, she left go and gave me a good look up and down, all the while playing the part of the over-zealous stage mom to the nines. By now, I should be used to it, but tonight it was different. She was nervous, knowing that my future in this business depended on how this match goes. Not only were the usual wrestling scouts watching, but it was rumored that Vince McMahon himself was taking a person interest in this match, which was the reason why my stomach was doing the hokey pokey and turning itself about.

"Mother, please. You're not the one that has to go out there and embarrass yourself."

"Please, you should consider yourself lucky to have my connections in this place. Do you know how I started my career?"

I sighed heavily. "Of course, mother. You won't let me forget. Besides, it's not like I wasn't there for some of it."

"Why do you call me mother when you're mad at me?" She pouted and looked stunning. Even at her age, she was still a knockout. Of course, this made me feel gangly and awkward standing next to her.

"Sorry, mom," I sighed again. "I just need a few minutes."

She said nothing, but the look on her face showed how disappointed she was in me. Great, just what I need at this exact moment. Once I was alone, I stared deeply into the mirror and a scared little girl staring back at me. My mother sees in me a way to get the Women's Wrestling back to where it was when she was Women's Champion, yet I can't shake the little child I see staring back at me. While she can't stand to watch these two-bit Barbie doll wannabes prancing around the ring and having everything handed to them based on their looks, I just want to get by in this company. To her, I was the end of the Kelly Kellys and the damn Bella Twins. All I wanted was to make a name of myself, without my mother. It's nothing against her, I love her and everything thing she's trying to do, but her name carries a lot of stigma, even to this day. Especially when it comes down to the Women's Championship.

"Holly Marie, you've got five minutes!"

At that, I ran back to the toilet and found myself staring at the last of my breakfast. Why I bothered to eat today was beyond me. I did the same thing before every big match…hell; I used to toss my cookies before monologue day in drama class back in high school. It was just how Holly Marie Miceli rolls and mother needed to get that into her head. She had to remember that I wasn't her. I didn't grow up in foster care and need to learn to count on me and only me. Instead, I grew up with my father because wrestling was more important to my mother than me. If I actually wanted to spend time with my mother, I had to learn to wrestle. What she didn't factor in was my unnatural stage fright.

"Now, Holly Marie."

I sighed to myself once again. "Coming, mother!"

House shows were usually a great place to see what exactly a wrestler can do under pressure. Sure, it wasn't quite up to wrestling on Raw or Smack down, but it got you working in front of a larger crowd than the bingo halls you are used to, plus you can really work your magic without it interfering with the storylines. I would be contend with spending my days as a mid-card filler on the house show circuit, but that's not exactly what mama had in store for her only child. I was the one that had to make up for her mistakes; I had to being honor back to the Miceli name. Being mediocre will never be enough for her because of the mistakes she made along the way. Then again, you can pull what my mother did and think you can live the rest of your life as a beloved wrestling icon. Sacrifices were made in order for her to get where she wanted to go and that is something I had to grow up with. Of course, that is something she will never admit to. That's not how my mother rolls.

"Seriously, Holly Marie, I really stepped out on a limb here for you. If you want your career to take off, you've got to stop throwing up before every match and focus at the task at hand." She practically drug me down the hallway towards the entrance to the ramp. "You've got more talent in your pinkie than most of these girls have in their whole body. Take these Bella Twins for instance. Not even an inkling of talent between the two of them. But you, you inherited your mother's moves. Well, not ALL of them."

Thanks, mom. "But still, the twins are a lot prettier than I am."

"Oh, that isn't true. Granted, you did inherit your looks from your father, God rest his soul. I guess you're lucky that he wasn't THAT bad looking." She paused at the curtain leading to the ramp. "Your hair…I wish you would think about dyeing it blonde."

"No thanks, mom. Too many blondes in the business as it is and it would be harder for me to stand out."

"But you look like Victoria and that ship already sailed."

"Mom…just let me go out there. What's the worst thing that happens…I don't get a contract?" The look on my mother's face was priceless, as it always is whenever I mention to her that I don't feel like following in the family business. "Kidding, mother. I'm only kidding."

"This isn't funny, Holly Marie." For some reason, she feels the need to repeat my name whenever she speaks to me, like she has to remind herself of who I am. I guess that's what happens when you are barely there for your own child when they are growing up. "I pulled a lot of strings to land you this gig. At first they didn't want to even look at you because you were my daughter. I had to go through Hickenbottom to get them to even consider this. Don't screw this up!"

Get pep talk, mom. "Thanks for everything, mom. But it might have been easier if I had just tried out on my own and not mentioned you were my mother until my third or fourth year."

"Funny." Her voice was frosty to say the least. "Let me get one more look at you before you go."

"Mother, please, I'm nervous enough as it is."

"Oh, alright. Go on now."

My heart began to thump hard in my chest as I stood behind the curtain, waiting for my cue. Even if I make Layla look like the next Ivory (my personal hero, besides mother of course) in the ring, it's still going to be an uphill battle and it truly wasn't fair. My mother's reputation will follow me wherever I go and nothing sort of being the greatest thing in the ring since the belly-to-back suplex will stop the insults and judgments that are in store for me. That's why I wanted to settle for being a mid-carder or make it without my mother's name coming into play. Either way, though, I'm probably screwed.

Then again, being the daughter of Alundra Blayze, wrestling's most hated woman, is bound to have its drawbacks…


	2. A Meeting of the Minds

A/N: Thank you to TheProblemIs-It'sNotMusic for being my very first review that WASN'T my writing partner. Much appreciated. Hopefully the rest of the story will live up to your words of encouragement. I think I'll wait until the next chapter for her to fall in love. (joke, of course) So, without much further ado...

Chapter Two – Meeting of the minds

The match, for being nothing more than a last minute card filler, went over quite well. Better than I had excepted, if I can toot my own horn. We hit our marks, had a great time, and I got showed the crowd of roughly 2500 just how well I take a chair shot from Mrs. 'Taker herself, Michelle McCool. The response from the crowd was like a drug, I didn't want my high to ever wear off. But all good things come to an end, leaving me with my first loss and a sore back. All things considered, it was a good day. Backstage, however, it was short lived.

"You over-sold that chair shot."

"Good to know, mother."

"You need to develop an actual finisher, something that makes you stand out from the other girls. They really don't have any highfliers in the Women's division, we could corner that market."

"Whatever you want, mother."

"Then again, your moonsaults have always been a bit…off…"

Thanks mom, for never allowing me to get a big head. It was all for not, nothing she could possibly say would make a difference in my mood. My body was still high on adrenaline and I felt like I would be tweaking for days. Without saying a word to acknowledge her presence, I walked past her and made my way towards the women's locker room. Not to be ignored, she followed behind me, her breathe almost echoing in my ear. Nonetheless my smile never faded; if anything, it got larger and larger every time I heard her huff. Nothing short of finding a dead puppy could bring me back down to earth. Of course, we all know how shitty my luck is, so something had to bring it crashing down.

"Hurry up and grab a shower now, Holly Marie. We head out on the next plane to Connecticut."

"Say what now?"

"Stamford is in Connecticut, sweetheart. I thought you did well in geography class?"

Wow, I guess my curt answers to her comments got her panties in a bunch. "I was good in school, mother. Not that you would've known while you were out training Nitro Girls-"

I nearly caught a glimpse of regret in her eyes, but that was quickly replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated anger. She turned her back to me and started for the door. "If you want to be a bitch about the past, then do it on your own time. Hickenbottom came through for me and you've got an interview with Vince McMahon himself tomorrow at 8 am sharp. That means we need to get the hell out of dodge if you want to make it there on time."

A meeting…with the man himself? I never once even thought that was a possibility. For once, my mother's timing had been impeccable, because the news sent me back into the bathing and retching. Vince McMahon wanted to meet up with the likes of me? Sure, I knew I'd have to meet someone from the company, sign my John Hancock on the dotted line and all that, but I didn't think it would be with the man who single-handed made professional wrestling what it is today. Sure, it wasn't like I hadn't met him before, I used to go out on the road a bit with my mother before she was released, but I was a pigtailed, jean jumper-wearing four year old then and not trying please my mother by becoming a wrestling phenom.

"Is this going to be your 'thing'?" She asked, her voice flat. "Should I be concerned?"

"Nerves, mother. I have terrible nerves."

"Clean yourself off and for god's sake, chew some gum or something. Your breath must be terrible." The clicking of her heels grew fainter as she made her way towards the exit. "We've got half an hour before we hit the road- I want you out of there in ten."

Ladies and gentlemen, my mother. Depending on who you ask, Debra Ann Miceli was either the greatest thing to hit Women's Wrestling since the Evening Gown Pool Match, or the women who single-handedly set the Women's Championship back seven years. It didn't matter to people that other men had pulled the same shit that she had and walked away unscathed, but because Alundra Blayze had done it, it was the end of all life on earth. Or something to that effect. Myself? I'm still trying to figure that one out. It is said that when women become mothers, the motherly instinct kicks right in. Debra Miceli does not have a motherly bone in her body. Not completely her fault, her upbringing alone didn't exactly bring out the "mom gene" in her. So her wrestling career took precedence over raising her own daughter, which left me in the care of my father and grandmother. So, while she was busy at The Power Plant, training Molly Holly and Nitro Girls, I was abandoned in Philadelphia with my father, Demetrius and his over-bearing, but well-meaning mother, Tula. I guess, with the exception of my mother, I had a normal life. As normal as I could have, once the other kids figured out where they knew my mother from. Now that I'm twenty years old and the rest of my family's dead and gone, I have somewhat of an actual relationship with my mother. Or…the best relationship I could ever hope to have with a woman like her.

By eight a.m. we pulled up outside of the famous WWE building in Stamford, CT., leaving my body in shambles. Mother, of course, looked every bit the stage mother that she is, decked out in a faux-fur coat, the biggest sunglasses this side of a joke shop, and giant diamond earrings. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, I had limited time to get myself looking half-way presentable, so I walked into the meeting of a life time wearing my old school Edge and Christian t-shirt and denim skirt. Classy! Within moments, we were whisked to the office on the top floor, and standing outside of the one man that could make or break me. My stomach rumbled and a wave of nausea kicked in, leaving me a retching mess.

"Of all the times for you to pull this!" Once again, ladies and gentlemen, my mother. "Get your act together or you are going to blow this for us!"

Mary, Vince's sectary, glanced at me with a nod of regret and chimed in with, "Mr. McMahon has to make a quick business call and will see you as soon as possible. If you want to take a seat-"

"That is just SO like Vince…he tells us to meet him at 8 and he can't be bothered to see us on time!" Do I need to repeat myself? "Tell him that Debra Miceli doesn't wait for-"

Just then, the door to his office opened, stifling my mother and making my stomach jump up into my throat, turning my face into a very fashionable green.

"I would like to see Holly Marie Miceli alone, if you wouldn't mind?"

I wish I had a camera to take a picture of the priceless look on my mother's face as she slowly nodded her response to The Man himself. In return, I glanced at my mother nervously before following him through the double doors that lead to my future. I wish I could say I gag reflex hadn't gone haywire at that exact moment. I wish I could.


End file.
